Comments on: Baha’is Need Justice! (Part 2)

By: sonja van kerkhoff

sonja van kerkhoff — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:55:43 +0000

Mohammed, thank for your article and I also enjoyed reading the comments.

on a pc to enlarge font size in Firefox you go to “view” on the menu above
then scroll to “zoom” and then click on Zoom In, the shortcut is while holding down the ctrl key to tap the + key and tap it again it will continue to increase. To decrease hold down the ctrl key and tap – (the key to the right of the +)

in IExplorer you choose “view” and then “Text size” and then one of the possible size settings.

Then you can stop using captitals, I hope.
They are harder for me to read.

By: Mohammad

Mohammad — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:24:52 +0000

MR. MARK AND OTHERS,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS RE FIXING MY EYES. I AM AN AGING PERSON. THESE SURGERIES WILL BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR ME. HOWEVER, IF THERE IS A WAY TO USE A LARGER FONT ON PC (NOT MAC), I AM OPEN TO IT.
GOOD DAY,
M.

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:02:22 +0000

I would like to thank everyone for the information you have shared, and especially for the graciousness and compassion that you have shown in this thread. My prayer is that the entire world will communicate from place of compassion and grace instead ego-centered indignation and an unwillingness to learn from others. All of you have provided a template for what our world could have instead of the constant bickering between people all of races, beliefs nationalities and backgrounds.

By: K.B. Attorney. CA.

K.B. Attorney. CA. — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:17:18 +0000

My comment is toward the beautiful article by Dr. Naficy, a great man, and a great hero. However, it makes me wonder that among billion other great tests to determine the broadmindedness of Baha’is, Dr. Naficy has chosen only the comment by the Baha’i woman said in 1987 in Los Angeles. To clear this a very simple example may suffice. Despite all the facts that how many Baha’is were murdered, their properties and businesses were confiscated, their children were deprived of education, We as Baha’is in the United States and abroad still defend the religion Islam when we hear something negative about it from a non-Baha’is, and surprisingly mostly our Moslem friends. The reason is We all know that Islam is a religion of peace, but what the fenatics do in the name of Islam is far and separate from Islam. Any body else believes that after all these prosecutions to us “Baha’Is”, have we still kept our openmindedness?.

By: Adib

Adib — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:18:17 +0000

In response to two comments by Mr. Martijn Rep:

>I have read they [the Bayanis/Azalis] are still around but I have no further information

Azalis are still around, though *very* few in number. You can really only find them in Iran (my grandmother knew one Azali family in Isfahan, for instance), but I wouldn’t be surprised if some live in the Haifa/Akka area as they might be descendants of Baha’u'llah.

>I assume they [the Bayanis/Azalis] accept Mirza Yahya as leader after the Bab, but do not know if they still have a leaders.

Right: Mirza Yahya/Azal would indeed be considered the next Babi leader, but I think after that point, some people have been divided on this issue. There are basically two arguments:

1. After Hadi Dawlatabadi, an Azali preacher from Isfahan, passed away, Mirza Yahya named Hadi’s son, Yahya Dawlatabadi (no blood relation to Mirza Yahya), the next successor to Babism.

2. Or that the above statement has not been proven and that, in reality, there is no proof as to whether or not Mirza Yahya ever appointed a successor.

#2 is the more commonly held belief of the two, i.e. that Mirza Yahya never actually appointed a successor. His own grandson, Jalal Azal, apparently testified to this, according to Dr. Moojan Momen’s “The Cyprus Exiles”:

http://bahai-library.com/articles/exiles.html

I have also heard that Mirza Yahya’s own son – Ridvan Ali, who later converted to Christianity and changed his name to Constantine – also agreed with belief #2.

But with regard to this day and age, Denis MacEoin notes:

“With the deaths of those Azalis who were active in the Constitutional period, Azali Babism entered a phase of stagnation from which it has never recovered. There is now no acknowledged leader nor, to the knowledge of the present writer, any central organization.”

(MacEoin, “Azali Babism”, Encyclopedia Iranica; http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f2/v3f2a070.html)

Hope that helps

By: LizKauai

LizKauai — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:39:26 +0000

Thank you all for your insights and comments!

For Mohammad- You can adjust the font in your browser so that you can see what you are typing. On a Mac, it is done by pressing the command key and the + sign to make it larger.
Aloha!

By: Mark Obenauer

Mark Obenauer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:30:54 +0000

This is very interesting history, and Grace, I like how you expanded on the issue of ignorance being an opportunity for learning with the text from Gleanings. I realize that you write in capital letters because you have poor eyesight, Mohammad. Do you wear corrective lenses and if you wear corrective lenses, is the visual problem something that could be improved with surgery? I am practically blind without my high index refractive lenses, and I am just curious because maybe there are people who could help you including people who are reading this blog.

By: Grace

Grace — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:35:39 +0000

Springtime greetings,
I appreciate the learning here. Thanks to Dr. Naficy we are enjoying shared education through dialog; and this relates to the situation concerning the Baha’is in Los Angeles who made an incorrect assumption, that the Babis all became Baha’is and that they no longer exist as a religion, which is not true.

I offer that narrow-mindedness is ignorance as it reflects a stage of the human condition [and a real opportunity for growth]. We all go through the same shortcomings often enough, since we are not perfect but are compelled, within our souls, to strive for excellence. Baha’u'llah states (”Gleanings,” p. 260) “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.”

When we blessed to recognize ignorance as an opportunity to encourage other people’s growth, and enabled to respond with compassion, we may impart accurate information with kindness and a smile, thereby endeavoring to support the friend(s). Sometimes silence is right at the time. Either way, accepting one another for our shortcomings is what Baha’u'llah admonishes to us because it benefits everyone, while it promotes the harmony and unity of mankind.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate. GB

By: Badi Villar

Badi Villar — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:13:56 +0000

To the majority of Bahá’ís don’t like to call only Babis to the Azali Babis. Nevertheless, the Bahá’í Faith recognizes the civil rights and the freedom of conscience of all the men.

By: sb

sb — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:10:56 +0000

Martin is correct, Sub-i-Azal, younger half- brother of Baha’u'llah, was sent by the Ottoman government to Cypress. Although Sub-i-Azal curried favor with Ottomans, apparently he tried their patience one too many times with his plots and schemes against Baha’u'llah. Azal was named nominal head of the Babi movement by the Bab. It is seen by Baha’is as a way of drawing attention from the obvious leader of the harrassed and diminished Babis after the Bab was executed and the movement was in disarray. Azal is infamous among Baha’is for his subterfuge, weakness and constant dissimulation.

It is critical to understand that the primary teaching of the Bab was the expectation and imminent appearance of “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest”.

Therefore, the Bab’s Teachings were ,in Baha’i understanding, preparatory to a divine Revelation even greater the Bab’s. This Teaching of the Bab is responsible for the nearly wholesale embrace of Baha’u'llah by the surviving Babis who lived through the terrible persecutions of 1852.

“O King! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven, and for this there befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of understanding to flow. ”

- Bahá’u'lláh, Lawh-i-Sultán